Diesel hits $6.30 a gallon as Trump weighs export curbs
US on-highway diesel has climbed to $6.30 a gallon, and President Trump said Wednesday he has not ruled out curbing exports to pull it back down. For anyone running trucks or hauling fuel, that is the number that matters this week. Crude has been above $100 a barrel since September, and the diesel market has tightened faster than the crude move alone explains.
The surcharge math is brutal right now. A fleet pegged to a weekly index is passing through a cost that keeps setting records. Carriers who locked rates before the September run-up are eating the gap until their fuel tables reset.
The export ban threat
Washington has leaned on Germany and France to release diesel from the EU's emergency reserves or face a US export ban, sources told Reuters on Thursday. The two countries hold a big share of Europe's stockpile. The idea is that more European supply would ease the global pull on US barrels, and a US ban would do the same by force, keeping product home.
That would cut both ways for operators. Domestic diesel could soften if exports get capped. Gulf Coast refiners who sell into Europe and Latin America would lose their best margins, and over time that can trim the runs that keep the home market supplied. Nothing is decided. Trump has only said a ban is on the table.
Farmers and weight relief
The squeeze is already hitting agriculture. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz granted weight limit relief so haulers can move more per load as diesel costs bite. In Christian County, the state agriculture commissioner is seeking relief for farmers facing what officials are calling extreme fuel costs. Growers are bracing for high diesel into next spring's planting season.
Oakland coal terminal
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation requiring a fresh environmental review of the proposed West Gateway coal export terminal at the former Oakland Army Base. The project, backed federally and eyeing Utah financing, would move coal by rail from interior Western states and load it onto vessels for Asia. For fuel haulers it is a sideshow, but it is one more rail-to-port freight corridor now stuck in review.
What to watch
Whether Trump moves from talk to an actual export limit, and what Germany and France do with their reserves. The spread between the diesel index and crude is the one to watch: if it keeps widening, surcharges climb regardless of what oil does. And watch for more states following Minnesota on weight waivers if prices hold into winter.